Programmer, Development Manager in Toronto

A New Project – Healthizer

It’s been awhile since my last post on this blog for the simple reason that I’ve joined a start-up company (trotwithspot.com) as CTO, and life is busy again!

Things are ticking along happily on that project, and now I’m feeling the desire to kick-off another project that’s interested me for some time. In addition I want to make more use of this blog, and see how well I can develop a new idea using this as a public forum. In this age of the Internet everyone’s doing it, so let’s give ‘er a go, eh?

A Big Problem

I’m concerned about the rate of cancer. A number of years ago I had a brush with cancer when a spot was discovered on my thyroid. Needless to say, it was a scary experience, and a few weeks later when I found myself sans-thyroid and cancer-free, I couldn’t quite believe that I had escaped so easily. A good friend of mine around the same time was engaged in a protracted battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a battle he won after several grueling years), and when I was diagnosed I naturally assumed that a similar ordeal was in store for me. As it turns out, my experience was relatively painless, and was more or less a thing of the past within a few months, aside from my life-long dependence on synthetic thyroid hormone.

As you would expect that experience ignited my interest in cancer in general, and the modern state of cancer-related medicine. Since that time a couple of things have become evident to me:

The rate of cancer is still increasing

Treatment for cancer is better than ever, and survival rates are also increasing.

So this is mixed news, but even taken together it seems clear to me that we are experiencing a cancer epidemic. The Canadian Cancer society estimates suggest that about a quarter of all people currently alive in Canada will die from cancer (source)! That in my book qualifies as a crisis.

Around the time when my cancer was discovered, I watched a segment on the CBC’s consumer watchdog program Marketplace that has stuck with me over the years. You can see it here – I encourage anyone to spend some time with it:CBC Marketplace: Chasing the Cancer Answer

In my view it is as relevant today as when it was aired almost a decade ago, and points to a bias in cancer circles towards a focus on treatment rather than prevention. All this got me thinking – what can I and my family possibly do to help reduce our chances of developing cancer?

Low-Hanging Fruit

One of the points highlighted in the Marketplace segment is that scads of consumer products found in your local grocery store have known carcinogens as ingredients! How is this possible? Whatever the reason, it’s happening in every store right now. This seems like some low-hanging cancer-prevention fruit – just avoid products containing these ingredients whenever possible.

That’s the thought that gave rise to my app idea – a simple mobile app that will scan the ingredient list (a legal requirement on any consumer product in Canada) and match them against lists of known carcinogens. This seems like a fairly straightforward app that could serve as a tool for anyone wanting to improve their cancer-savvy grocery choices. I’ve done some preliminary checking around the web to see if this has been done, and so far I haven’t found anything exactly like this – more on that later.

What’s In a Name?

So this app concept needs a name. Here are some candidates, off the top of my head:

ShopScan

Grocery Inspector

Health Guard

Healthalizer

Healthizer

Stop Cancer

CancerBuster

Personally, I like “Healthizer”. It’s memorable, easy to understand, and doesn’t limit the future scope of the app. I feel the grocery-related suggestions are kindof boring and forgettable, and the cancer-related ones are too grandiose (like, I don’t actually think that this app will “bust” cancer).

So for now, Healthizer it is. I’d love to hear more suggestions if people have them! Check back for more posts on the development of this new app!